


Freaks, Friends, and the Fantastic

by lils_in_wonderland



Category: Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-13 03:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1210903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lils_in_wonderland/pseuds/lils_in_wonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Rose Tyler's first year at Hogwarts and nothing is going as planned. After meeting the comical John Smith in Kings Cross station, Rose is thrown into a mystery that even the resident detective, Ravenclaw fourth year, Sherlock Holmes, may be baffled by. Join Holmes and Watson as they take on a case that not even the great Harry Potter would be able to solve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. From Kings Cross to Hogwarts

The station is stuffed full of people. Tall business men stand in their smart black suits, walking at a brisk pace to look up at the arrivals board. Clusters of families pushing trollies, arguing easily with each other about the train delays. There is a district smell of petrol in the air as a small blonde girl pushes her way through the crowd near the arrivals board toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Her mother walks behind her, carefully rolling a trolly laden with a large, battered, leather trunk, rather out of place in the modern setting, and most peculiarly a large bird cage containing an  eagle owl that hoots indignantly at the passers buy. Most people are to flustered by the train delays to pay any attention to the owl or the trunk, so for the most part the woman goes unnoticed. The woman, who is plainly the girl’s mother, cranes her neck to see where she has gone. The blonde girl takes after her mother in terms of looks, big bright eyes and full lips. The girl turns around, “Mum, come on, we’re gonna be late!” “Rose, sweetheart, slow down unless you’d like to push your own trolly!” 

Rose turns back around, with no intention of slowing down, and crashes head long into a lankly boy of around her age, with wild brown hair sticking out in all directions pushing a trolly as well. The contents of the trolly end up with them on the floor in a tangled heap. He offers her a hand to help her off the floor, pulling both of the them to their feet. She flushes a brilliant pink, “Oh God, I’m so sorry wasn’t watching where I was going and I just-you are all right aren’t you?” “I’m perfectly all right, but I’m not so sure about my trolly.” He says all this with a grin so wide that she can’t help but smile back at him. “Oh let me just,” she starts to lift a heavy trunk off the ground and he grabs the other end and they hoist it onto the trolly. Rose reaches down to pluck a fallen book from the ground, but he hurriedly pulls it out of her hand but not before she get’s a good look at the cover,  A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. The boy hurriedly tucked the book in the bag slung over his shoulder and looks up at Rose. Upon noticing her confused look, he says, “Umm…that was just some fantasy book I was reading, rubbish isn’t it?” “No, it isn’t, I’m one too, a witch I mean” He smiles at her again this time his grin is even wider as he says, “Are you heading to Hogwarts too then?” “Yeah I am, but you’re going the wrong direction, platform 9 ¾ is this way” she says pointing in the direction she was heading earlier. He looks embarrassed and stares down at his converse, tugging on his ear nervously, “Well you see, I, um, don’t exactly know where I’m gonna cause it didn’t say on the ticket and I, uh, come from, I’m an orphan and they just dropped me off here so-” His rambling is cut short by the arrival of Rose’s mother and her cart. 

“Rose, I told you to be careful, at this rate we’ll actually be late and you know how-” Jackie, Rose’s mother, stops abruptly looking at the boy with interest, “Whose this, then?” Rose sighs exasperatingly at Jackie and turns to the boy, “This is, hang on I never did get your name.” “I’m John, John Smith, I’m going to Hogwarts too, my first year even.” He’s still bouncing on the balls of his feet as he says all this grinning at Jackie and Rose. “Your kiddin’ right? John Smith, just, it’s such a, I dunno, you don’t meet many John Smiths, you know?” says Jackie with a laugh. “I’m Rose’s mum, you can call me Jackie if you’d like, where are your parents then?” At that John’s jubilance fades and he becomes glassy eyed as he again looks down at his feet, “I’m an orphan,” he mumbles very quietly his whole demeanor changing, “My parents died when I was just a baby, I, uh, live at the orphanage still, so…they just dropped me here, and it never said on the ticket but umm, where is platform 9 and ¾?” He says all of that so fast it takes Jackie a minute to process it all. “Oh come on dear, we’ll show you.” All three of them walk forward (Rose now pushing her own cart) until they’re standing directly in front of the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Jackie turns to John, “Now you just run directly at the barrier, don’t hesitate, just run right at it. Here Rose can go first if you’d like.” Rose takes as much of a running start as she can with the crowd pressing in around them and runs right into the not so solid barrier, disappearing completely. John gapes in aw at the spot where Rose had been standing just moments before. “Now you go John” says Jackie coaxing him and his cart forward, “That’s it, now just run right through the barrier.” With a deep breath John begins to run toward the barrier, his face scrunched up as if excepting impact that never comes. 

He opens his eyes and finds Rose smiling at him in a busy platform that seems to be full of witches and wizards of varying ages. Most seem to be in muggle clothes but there are a few who have already donned robes and hats. John also catches site of the scarlet steam engine, young witches and wizards hurriedly boarding it. “Come on we better load our trunks onto the train, my mum will be along in a moment,” says Rose weaving her way through the crowd John right behind her. They finish pushing their heavy trunks and Rose’s owl Jabe onto the train and head back onto the platform where Rose says a hurried goodbye to Jackie. “Bye Mum, I love you, and I’ll write often I promise!” “Oh Rose sweetheart, remember I’m just an owl away if you need anything at all.” When Jackie finally releases Rose from her crushing hug, she and John head back onto the train into the compartment they had just put their things in. 

Rose opens the door only to find it occupied by a dark skinned girl already wearing her robes and a girl with fiery red hair telling her something in an annoyed tone. The red haired girl looks up and regales in a thick Scottish accent, “Hi, are these your trunks? We can move if you want, its just that everywhere else is full.” “No, its fine, the more the merrier,  I’m Rose by the way.” She says sitting down next to the dark skinned girl as John takes the seat opposite her. “Amy,” the red haired girl says in response extending her hand to Rose who shakes it. “I’m John, John Smith. Rose and I are both in first year, how about you?” John says shaking Amy’s hand and then turning to the other girl who has her nose hidden in a book. Looking up, the girl replies, “Oh sorry, I’m Martha Jones, and me and Amy are both first years too. My brother, Leo, is a third year and my sister, Tish, is a second year so I know loads about Hogwarts already. What houses to you want to be in? I want to be in Ravenclaw, although I suppose Hufflepuff and Gryffindor wouldn’t be bad either.” “Oh, I want to be in Gryffindor!” says John exuberantly, “I’ve read all about the houses and their origins. Did you know that Salazar Slytherin built a chamber underneath the school at one point that was rumored to hold a giant venomous snake?” “No, that’s so creepy,” said Rose shivering a little, “I defiantly don’t want to be in Slytherin, all the books make it sound so vile.” “Oh it's not so bad,” said Amy, “Martha’s brother is in Slytherin and he’s really nice. My aunt was in Slytherin though, and she’s a proper nightmare, she is.” “So do you two know each other then?” said Rose gesturing to Martha and Amy. “Yeah, we grew up together. You’re kinda forced to become friends with everyone when you live in a village with a population of about eight people,” replied Martha laughingly, “we came here with Rory, but he wandered off somewhere.” “He’s probably lost, he’s always lost,” grumbled Amy. “You’re lucky you have wizarding friends,” scowled Rose, “when my dad died, my mum lost contact with most of her magical friends so I’ve never really know anyone else whose magic. It’s weird though, having to keep everything hidden from your best friends. Mum hardly uses magic around the house anymore incase someone drops by from a visit.” “I didn’t even know I was a wizard until a couple of months ago. My parents died in a train wreck when I was really little so I never knew about magic or anything. Ms. Sally, the sort of mother of the orphanage, got really scared when letters kept coming for me out of the fireplace, but finally one of the teachers from Hogwarts arrived and explained everything to her and she let me go out of buy all of my things. The orphanage isn’t actually all that bad, its just that I wish I could have known my parents you know?” “Yeah, I know how you feel. Both my parents died when I was two years old,” said Amy putting a hand on his shoulder, “let me tell you being raised by my aunt was not fun in anyway, she usually goes out at night and get’s herself really pissed and comes back in the afternoon and yells at me constantly. These days I usually spend most of my time at Martha’s place or with Rory.” At that the door slid open to reveal a short boy with a round face and a mop of brown hair. 

“Speak of the devil!” said Martha with an exasperated sigh. “Sorry,” said Rory apologetically, sliding into the seat next to Rose, “There was a fight in one of the cars and the crowd was massive! I’m Rory Williams by the way.” He said to Rose and John. “I think they figured that out stupid!” said Amy rolling her eyes. “I’m John Smith and this is Rose Tyler, nice to meet you Rory!” said John smiling his goofy grin again. “Hey, wait a minute, I never mentioned my last name to you!” said Rose suspiciously. “Oh sorry, I read it on your trunk when we were carrying them in.” replied John sheepishly, “So Rory, who was in the fi-” before John could finish his question the door burst open a second time and a tall girl with dark red hair came charging in. She seemed quite annoyed about something and Rose noticed that she had a prefect badge pinned to her robes. “Oi, you there,” she said pointing to Rory, “I’m Donna Noble, a Gryffindor prefect, did you happen to see who was involved in that fight? Professor Smith thought she saw you near the action, we couldn’t get a good look ourselves you see.” “Umm… I don’t know them by name but I could describe them to you if you’d like” said Rory cautiously, “There was a tall boy with curly black hair and a shorter boy with slick black hair…and, uh, there was another boy with sandy hair trying to break them up.” Donna swore under her breath, “Holmes, Moriarty, and Watson! I knew it, they are going to get it this time, I swear! Oh and you lot should get your robes on we’ll be arriving soon,” and with that she ducked out of the room probably to find Professor Smith, Rose thought. “We should change, she’s right,” said Rose, “Rory, John would you guys mind leaving for a minute so that Amy and I can change?” The boys grabbed their clothes and exited the compartment as Amy and Rose began to change into their school uniforms. Martha again buried herself in her book,  A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration as Amy and Rose finished changing and the boys came back into the compartment. A short while later a nasally voice announced that they would be approaching Hogwarts in a couple of minutes and that their luggage would be taken to the school separately.

The sky outside became dark and soon the English country side had become a small village. The train came to a halt in front of a long platform and Rose and her new group of friends exited their compartment and began to file out of the train onto the platform. The small group stood there uncertain about where to go until they heard a loud voice call out, “First years! First years over here!” They headed towards the voice fighting their way through the crowd until they found the source. An old man stood there smiling kindly at the small crowd of first years already gathered there. “Is this everyone then? I’m Wilfred Mott, the gamekeeper here at Hogwarts. You can call be Wilf.” Wilf lead them over to the edge of what appeared to be a large lake although it was hard to tell in the dark. “Four to boat and be careful as you get in!” He said kindly. Rose and John clambered into one of the small boats and were joined by a boy named Adam and a girl named Gwyneth. They didn’t talk much as they drift across the lake, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, it was as if a sort of electricity was buzzing through out all the first years. “You’ll get your first sight of Hogwarts in a second!” called Wilf from his own boat. The first years all took a collective gasp at the sight of the castle. John had read and reread all of his textbooks describing Hogwarts but none of it contested with the actually sight of the castle. It was massive with, it seemed, hundreds of towers. The lights in the windows flickered comfortingly and Rose thought she saw some of the other students trickling into the main entrance way. When the boats approached the shore, the first years clambered out and Wilf lead them up a rocky stairway towards the castle. Soon they reached the side of the castle and Wilf rapped twice on the large Oak door in front of them and it swung open to admit them. The first years entered into a long chamber with high ceilings. 

Someone else entered through the door at other the end of the chamber. She was dressed in lavender robes that flowed around her as she walked. Her dark hair was wavy and shoulder length and her lips were pulled into a friendly smile as she greeted the first years. John’s immediate impression was that he could confide in her. It was a little frightening to feel this way about someone who you had only just met, but he supposed this might be attributed to the lack of maternal figures in his life. “Hello first years. I am Professor Sarah Jane Smith, deputy headmistress, and head of Gryffindor House. In a moment, you will enter the Great Hall and be sorted into one of the four houses we have here at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin,” John thought she said the latter with just a hit of bitterness although he couldn’t be sure. “Throughout your time at Hogwarts, your house will become your family. You will eat at your house table, sleep in your house dormitories, socialize in your house common room. If you preform well educationally and behaviorally you may be awarded house points,” she paused here to look sternly down at them, “however, if you misbehave you can loose your house points, which I can assure you will not settle well with your housemates. At the end of the year, the house with the most house points will win the house cup, a great honor. I will return in just a moment, in the mean time please form an orderly line” With that she swept out of the chamber into what ever lay beyond. The first years shuffled nervously into a line, John and Rose near the front and Amy, Martha, and Rory near the back. John turned to Rose, “Do you know how we’ll be sorted? Is it a test?” Rose looked very pale, “I don’t know, God, what if it is a test and we fail?” John took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, “You won’t fail, you’re brilliant. We can do this, I know we can.” He looked a little green as he said this, “I hope it’s short so we can get it over quickly, you know, like ripping a band-aid off?” Rose just nodded meekly. Her knees felt quite wobbly and she was sure that the only thing keeping her up right was John’s steady presence beside her. The door on the far side of the chamber opened and Professor Smith  walked back inside. “Now if you could all follow me, single file please!” John was forced to drop Rose’s hand and move in front of her as they were now moving into what appeared to be a much bigger chamber just beyond the door. The first years again took a collective gasp at the sight of the Great Hall. The large domed ceiling was covered in constellations that seemed to move and shift very slightly. John whispered to Rose, “I read that it’s enchanted to mimic the sky outside”. There were four long tables filled with the older students talking amongst themselves. Rose assumed that each house had its own table but it was unclear which was which. Behind them a group of adults who seemed to be the Professors, were sitting at their own table on a raised platform as to look over the students. The first years filed out into the Great Hall and lead by Professor Smith, ended up in the middle of the room. Here there was an old three legged stool on which Professor Smith placed a hat, mangled, patched, and incredibly old. A studded silence fell over the older students who all stared intently at the hat. The first years followed their example and quickly turned their gaze on the hat. For a moment nothing happened and Rose felt incredible foolish standing there and staring at the hat, but then the brim opened wide as if a mouth and began to sing. 

“Oh hello to you all I had a feeling you’d come, the flower, the wolf and the doctor all chums, I was created long before the strife, a hat to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right, the founders four had each their house, some with the guts of a lion or the wit of a mouse, Gryffindor for those brave and true, Ravenclaw for wit all new, Hufflepuff for loyalty beyond compare, and Slytherin for those who dare, try me on and you will see, that your future stretches endlessly, what house will do its best to make you you? Let’s see, come on, it’s time, so soon!” 

The brim closed again, the hat stilled, and the older students burst into applause. “When I call your name you will sit on the stool and put on the hat,” called Professor Smith unrolling a long scroll of parchment. Rose and John looked at each other, “So that’s it then we just put on the hat?” whispered John, “I guess,” Rose replied very quietly. She still felt nervous, what if the hat placed her in Slytherin, what if she and John ended up in different houses? Rose looked back at Professor Smith as she called out the first name, “Anderson, Phillip!” Anderson walked stiffly forward toward the stool. He was a rather mean looking boy with a sharp pointed nose. He sat down and put on the hat. The first years held their breaths, but almost immediately the hat declared, “Slytherin!” and Anderson walked over to the table second from the right who were applauding happily. Rose and John watched as Gwenyth Cooper became a Hufflepuff and  Jenny Flint became a Gryffindor. Rose was becoming increasingly nervous with each passing sorting. On some people, the hat took a long time deciding where to place them for others it was immediate. Rose was sure she was going to be one of those that took ages and ages to decide. Soon it was Martha’s turn, and she approached the stool on shaky legs. Sitting down, she pick up the hat and placed it on her head. Immediately the hat shouted, “Ravenclaw!”. Martha took the hat off and placed it back on the stool smiling as she made her way over to the table second from the left. “Mitchell, Adam” became another Slytherin, “Moss, Lynda” a Hufflepuff, and “Peth, Astrid” a Gryffindor. A small girl, “Oswin-Oswald, Clara” joined the Ravenclaw table and sat next to Martha along with a short boy, “Owens, Jake”. When Amy tried the hat on, it took a while to decide finally on “Gryffindor!” and she happily joined the table on the far left. “Rassilon, Koschei” became a Slytherin and then it was John’s turn. 

Rose watched as John trudged toward the stool, his face as white as a sheet as he sat on the rickety stool and jammed the hat on his head. It drooped down over his eyes and Rose held her breath waiting for the hat to call out, but it didn’t come. Two minutes, nothing had happened people were starting to whisper, five minutes, the professors were getting anxious, and finally at eight minutes the hat announced, “Ravenclaw!”. No applause came from the Ravenclaw table, instead a nervous chatter greeted John Smith as he sat down next to Martha. He looked dejected and pale, all traces of his earlier smile wiped from his face. Rose was so concerned about him that she almost missed the next name, “Smith, Mickey”. Rose’s jaw dropped. It was Mickey, Mickey from school, who she had grown up with, and she had never known, never known that he was a wizard. Mickey made his way to the stool but no one, not even the professors were paying much attention to him as they were still focussed on John’s unusual sorting. The hat took only a few seconds to proclaim Mickey a Gryffindor and he walked over to their table still relatively unnoticed by his housemates. Rose felt a pang of guilt for him but nerves quickly over took that as Professor Smith read the next name off the scroll, “Tyler, Rose!”. Rose made her way to the stool her legs wobbling as she sat down. The hat was heavy in her hands and Rose could feel the eyes of the other students boring into her. She slipped the hat over her eyes until all she could see was black. 


	2. The Hat is Never Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously… Professor Smith read the next name off the scroll, “Tyler, Rose!”. Rose made her way to the stool her legs wobbling as she sat down. The hat was heavy in her hands and Rose could feel the eyes of the other students boring into her. She slipped the hat over her eyes until all she could see was black.

The hat smelled of something musky and ancient as old as the magic inside of it. “There is something of the wolf in you, my dear,” said a low voice inside Rose’s head. She couldn’t tell if the voice was feminine or masculine only that it seemed to create a buzz inside her mind as it spoke. “Fear me not, for I’m only hat,” said the voice again, “You would do well all over, my dear, you have wits about you, but no, I don’t think Ravenclaw, as you value your bravery more than your smarts.” Rose must have been projecting thoughts of John because the sorting hat chuckled, “Oh yes the boy, he will not be alone, I think Gryffindor for you though,” “But I want to be with him!” thought Rose. “You will find a way and this will only bring you closer together don’t worry, Rose Tyler, you will have many adventures,” the hat said this in a very final way but Rose was still thinking furiously at it to put her with John in Ravenclaw, “I think,” the hat chuckled here which unnerved Rose, it really wasn’t going to put her in Ravenclaw, “for you it better be…GRYFFINDOR!” the hat must have roared the last word to the other students as well because Rose could hear the Gryffindor table clapping and cat calling as she made her way over to them sitting between Amy and Mickey. 

“Rose, I didn’t expect to see you here!” said Mickey with a grin on his face. “Like wise” replied Rose half-heartedly staring intently at the boy currently being sorted so she would not have to engage in conversation. She was still put out at not being sorted into the same house as John. Mickey was had been her friend for ages, but even though she had only met John a few hours ago she felt as though there was something special about him, something intriguing. Why couldn’t the hat have put her into Ravenclaw with him? The hat hadn’t really said anything useful to her just something about wolf. Honestly the hat’s reassurance that she and John would have spades of adventures seemed like a downright lie. They had only just met and even if Rose was curious about him, she couldn’t really call him a friend yet. Besides how would they have adventures if they never even saw each other outside of classes and meal times? As Rose mulled this over several other first years had been sorted but none to her house. It was Rory’s name that finally pulled Rose out of her stupor and she watched as he nervously approached the hat. She felt sorry for him being the last to be sorted out of all the first years, but he excitedly rushed to the stool when his name was called, happy that the ordeal was over. Almost immediately the hat proclaimed Rory a Hufflepuff and he scurried over to Hufflepuff table admit a little disappointed that he had not been in Gryffindor but happy all the same. 

No sooner than Rory had taken his seat, Professor Mcgonagall stood and began to address the school,“Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our feast, I would like to announce a new tradition that will be starting this year to ensure inter-house cooperation and fraternization,” Rose, like most of the other students were puzzled as they had never heard of anything like this occurring at Hogwarts before, “Each student will be assigned a partner in their year but in another house to complete a series of academic trials with. These trials will happen periodically throughout the year to promote the importance of acceptance in our welcoming community. Your Heads of House will discuss this new system with you in greater detail and assign your partners. Now I believe you must all be hungry. Let the feast commence!” 

Suddenly the gold platters on the table in front of them were laden with gourmet dishes, the likes to which Rose, living on a council estate had never seen. Not worrying too much about the inter-house partnership project she chatted idly with Amy and Mickey about Quidditch stars, stuffing herself full of the delicious food. 

It wasn’t until well into dessert that they broached the subject of project. “It’s weird though,” said Mickey with a mouthful of treacle tart,“this project you know, what if we get pared with a Slytherin’ or somethin’?” he mused. “Oh, come off it they don’t seem so terrible!” argued Rose glancing over at the Slytherin table. “Yeah some of them aren’t bad but do you see that boy over there?” said Amy conspiratorially, pointing at a boy with a slick black hair smiling smugly at something that a first year next to him had said, “That’s the boy that Donna was saying got into a fight earlier, Moriarty, and I was just talking to Jake Owens whose brother Craig said that Moriarty was always doing stuff like that ever since his first year at Hogwarts. Everybody thinks he poisoned Reinette Poisson last year, but they could never prove it was him. Moriarty was always a step ahead of them.” Mickey looked a little scared at that and laughed nervously, “He couldn’t have been serious, probably just messing with his little brother telling stories like that, you know?” “Maybe,” said Rose cautiously, “weirder things have happened at Hogwarts though. I mean, when Harry Potter was here there were all sorts of creepy things like that giant snake under the school, ‘member?” “Yeah I guess,” said Mickey still looking a little nervous. 

As suddenly as it had arrived the remains of their dinner vanished from their plates and Professor Mcgonagall rose to speak again. “As I am sure you are all full and tired we will send you off to bed soon, but before you go I ask to join me in singing the school song. Pick your favorite tune and off we go!” She raised her wand and suddenly words in shimmering gold erupted from its tip and hung in the air as the students began to sing all at different speeds, 

“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, 

Teach us something, please, 

Whether we be old and bald 

Or young with scabby knees, 

Our heads could do with filling 

With some interesting stuff, 

For now they're bare and full of air, 

Dead flies and bits of fluff, 

So teach us things worth knowing, 

Bring back what we've forgot, 

Just do your best, we'll do the rest, 

And learn until our brains all rot.” 

Rose, Mickey, and Amy picked a rather fast tune and finished before most of the other students, some seemed to be going deliberately slow. As soon as everyone had finished Professor Mcgonagall spoke again. “With that rousing rendition I bid you goodnight. Prefects please escort your first years to their dormitories.” There was a scraping of benches as everyone stood. Rose, Amy, and Mickey followed the Gryffindor prefects Donna and a boy named Greg Lestrade up a long and winding marble staircase toward what Rose assumed must be Gryffindor tower. After what seemed like miles of walking to the sleepy first years, they stopped in front of a painting of a very large woman who Donna introduced as the Fat Lady. “She is the entrance to Gryffindor tower,” explained Lestrade, “All you have to do to get in is say the password.” “Right now,” Donna continued, “the password is flobber worm”. As she said this the Fat Lady giggled, and chortled, “In you go dears,” and swung open to admit them. The first years clambered through the portrait hole and found themselves in large circular room that was already filled with older students. Against a wall there was a large, stone fireplace where within blazed a roaring fire. Around the fire were several squashy arm chairs where people were sitting and chatting. Rose glanced at the walls seeking out more portraits like that Fat Lady but finding them only adorned with red and gold tapestries. The first years followed Donna and Lestrade to the far side of the room where there were two staircases. “These are the girls dormitories,” said Donna gesturing to staircase on the left. “And these are the boys dormitories,” said Lestrade pointing to the staircase on the right side. “You will be sleeping with your other housemates of the same gender,” explained Donna, “If I find out there has been any funny business what so ever…well good luck with that mate!” Rose and Amy said goodnight to Mickey who promised to sit with them in the great hall at breakfast and followed the other first year girls to the dormitories. Upon climbing the stairs, they found themselves faced with several doors each marked with a sign. They entered the one labeled, “First years,” and found three other girls already unpacked their belongings which seemed to have appeared at the end of each four poster bed. 

“Hi, I’m Joan,” said a small girl with mousy brown hair, “and you must be Rose and Amy judging by your trunks!” She talked very fast, rather like John mused Rose. The girl on her right introduced herself as Jenny and the girl on Joan’s left as Vastra. Vastra was as quite as Jenny was loud and they balanced each other in an interesting way. Jenny was tall and had dark brown hair pulled back in a bun. She talked with an even thicker cockney accent then Rose when she greeted them, something that pleased Rose immensely. It gave her a nice feeling like Rose was a little closer to home. As Amy and Rose began to unpack their belongings and dawn their bedclothes, Vastra spoke very little. It was only when Jenny promoted her to show them her trick that she blushed and nodded in response. Rose and Amy soon learned the Vastra was a metamorphmagus and could change her appearance at will. They had fun asking her to take the appearance of different animals first a pig then a lizard. She laughed with them and was generally more open and congeal after that. Soon they were all tired and Vastra returned to her appearance complete with her dark green hair that she so loved. Turning out the light, five girls climbed into their beds happy and content. Rose pulled her blanket around her and let her self be lulled into a dreamless sleep, her troubles rolling right away. 

* * *

While Rose fell into the clutches of sleep, across the castle in Ravenclaw tower, John Smith lay awake in his own four poster bed staring at the ceiling. If he closed his eyes he knew that the nightmares would come and eat him alive. John barely ever slept but it didn’t really bother him. Most of the time he would just lie in his bed and relive the events of the day, but tonight it was different. Reliving the day almost seemed worse than the nightmares themselves. After John’s unusual sorting all of his other house mates  had seemed reluctant to meet his eye, all except for Martha who tried to distract him from the sorting all throughout dinner. He had silently thanked her for her valiant effort but when he had spoken it had come off as brash and rude. If Martha noticed she didn’t show it, for she just kept chattering away on any topic she could think of. When the feat had ended, John had made his way to Ravenclaw tower lead by prefects Adelaine Brook and Walter Simeon. He was spell bound by the towering shelves of books in the common room and was sad to retreat to the boys dormitory after bidding Martha goodnight. His roommates, Castellan, Borusa, and Corsair were not fond of him in the slightest and almost blatantly ignored his presence and now here he was staring into the darkness of room trying to avoid sleep. The words of the sorting hat reverberated through John’s head as he lay in the darkness, “Choose your bravery she will fall away from you, choose your kindness she will herself kill, choose your cunning and the wolf will eat you alive, choose your intellect and she will suffer, yes suffer, but love you like no one has. You must choose, Doctor, choose your path…” John had sat on the that stool thinking for a long time. That hat had addressed him as Doctor, a nickname his friend Romana, his muggle friend at the orphanage whom he had long considered his sister, had given him. How had it known and more importantly who was this wolf? What was she if she were so dangerous and more importantly had he chosen right? What if something disastrous happened because of him? These questions plagued John until he was forced to submit to sleep. What did it tell you when real life was worse than the nightmares?


	3. Let the Classes Commence!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously…Before we begin our feast, I would announce a new tradition that will be starting this year to ensure inter-house cooperation and fraternization. While Rose fell into a dreamless sleep, John submitted to the nightmares. What did it tell you when real life was worse than the nightmares?

It wasn’t exactly Sherlock Holmes’s fault that Ravenclaw had lost fifty house points before term even started. His housemates were very quick to put all of the blame on the “freak”. For intelligent wizards, they were very stupid mused Sherlock, hadn’t they all seen Moriarty try to curse him was he exited the compartment. What was he supposed to do? Stand there and let Moriarty toy with him? The duel was going along splendidly before John Watson had gotten out of their compartment to see where he was, it normally didn’t take him that long to get sweets. One stray curse from Sherlock’s wand was enough to put the John in the hospital wing for a week and all three of them into detention for the rest of the term. Of course that blabber mouthed ginger Donna had to go right to Professor Smith and tell her what had happened. Professor Smith had reacted surprising calmly, levitating Watson onto a floating stretcher and moving him into the teacher’s compartment with ease. It was easy to see why the Headmistress had hired Professor Sarah Jane Smith to take over her old teaching position. She was an orphan and had no family to speak of which made her quiet and reserved. The Professor had recently been through a divorce that very few knew of, evidently reclaiming her maiden name from the way she flinched when it was called. Everybody at Hogwarts was an open book, thought Sherlock disgustedly as he made his way down to the breakfast hall that morning. 

As he swished past the Gryffindor table, Sally Donovan yelled to him something about being a psychopath and having no friends to speak of. She had long since been an annoyance to Sherlock ever since first year when he had pointed out that Sally was bossy because she came from a poor muggle family. Donovan always made a point to be rude to Sherlock but he didn’t mind in the least. Sherlock had long since learned to tune out her jeers and he took his place at the Ravenclaw table, trying to act like he was oblivious to the murderous stares of his fellow housemates. Even the little first years openly stared at him and whispered to each other nervously. Sherlock simply sat at the table hands pressed together under his mouth.

The only reason he even came to meals was to speak to John in the morning to decide on a meeting place that afternoon. The Gryffindors were accustom to Sherlock joining their table and usually chose to ignore him. Without John there, thought Sherlock, there wasn’t a point to eating. Eating was boring. Classes were boring. Hogwarts was boring. Everything was boring without John. There was nobody to complain to about the annoying Gryffindors or to show off his deductions to. Nobody to complement him or to laugh about Mycroft’s stupidity with. Nobody to sneak off and have adventures with. Suddenly Sherlock’s thoughts were interrupted by a high, sneering voice,“Hey there freak!” As usually Donovan couldn’t come up with a more creative insult, “Lost without your boyfriend, I bet he doesn’t even want to see you anymore, seeing as you were the one to curse him! Did you get bored of him too?” Here she paused to laugh, “I told him, I always said, ‘One day someone will end up in the hospital wing, and Sherlock Holmes will be the one to put them there!’ I bet Watson’ll come round to my side now. How about that freak? It’s bad enough you’re a gay bastard and now you haven’t even got a friend in this entire school!” Sherlock bit his lip. That was a new one. No one had called him gay before. Sure there were always rumors flying around that he and Watson were more than strictly friends, but most people thought that Sherlock didn’t even have a sexuality. Suddenly Sherlock spotted the figure standing behind Donovan. “Anderson are you wearing lipstick? Cause I could have sworn it’s the exact same color as Sally’s. You know, I thought you would do better Donovan, a first year really? You’re ashamed of it aren’t you, the way you’re flushing now. I say you break it off now, Anderson. She’s only using you to get information on Lestrade anyways” and with that Sherlock walked hurriedly into the entrance hall Anderson’s shouts echoing behind him. 

* * *

Unlike the other Ravenclaws, John Smith was grateful for Sherlock Holmes’s fifty point deduction. All attention was on Sherlock and the big fight that Rory had witnessed the day before. In fact by morning, it seemed that everyone had forgotten about John’s unusually sorting. His roommates were talking to him now and it was an immense relief when Boursa even apologized for their earlier behavior. At breakfast, John took the seat next to Martha and had a bit of a shock when owls swooped into the Great Hall to deliver the morning hall. Martha, whose siblings had undeniably told her about this, chuckled good naturally when John knocked over his pumpkin juice in his fright. Apparently before John had awoke Martha had over heard Molly Hooper a fourth year Hufflepuff disproving that Sherlock had put several people in the hospital wing during the fight on the train. John assumed that was a big deal judging by how the older Ravenclaws all shot Sherlock nasty glances when he arrived at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast. John tried to keep a look out for Rose but he couldn’t seem to spot her at the Gryffindor table that morning. He supposed she must have eaten early that morning, but was disappointed nonetheless.

After their breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, and pumpkin juice, John and Martha headed up the marble steps to the Ravenclaw Tower. Together they answered a magically tricky riddle posed by the magical door-knocker, and were admitted to the Ravenclaw Common Room which was already abuzz with activity. Professor Lethbridge-Stewart head of Ravenclaw House, whom the first year quickly learned went by the Brigadier, greeted them fondly and handed them their schedules. The Brigadier was a retired Auror who taught defense against the dark arts. He was a tall man with a hard face, but kind eyes. 

Most of the other students were already gathered around a very long sheet of parchment that had been stuck to the wall above the bust of Rowena Ravenclaw that the two friends soon realized was the list of inter-house partners. John, being the taller of the two, attempted to push to the front of the crowd to read the paper but was jostled out of the way by a gaggle of fourth year girls eager to see if they had been partnered with Jack Harkness, an attractive Slytherin boy who, according to Tish, Martha’s sister, had quite the romantic reputation. John scowled and retreated back to one of the more comfortable armchairs to wait the older students out. Soon, when only the younger first and second years were left in the common room, John jumped from his seat, nearly running over the petite Clara Oswin-Oswald in his haste. Martha walked up behind John who was already eagerly scanning the parchment for his name and began to search for her own. As John reached the end of the list his face fell. “I’m-I’m with that Slytherin boy, Koschei Rassilon,” said John dejectedly turning away from the list to face Martha. “Well I bet he’s not half bad. Come on John, cheer up, I mean you haven’t even met him yet have you?” Martha questioned astutely. She was the type of person who thought very logically, mused John, a natural Ravenclaw she was. “I guess. Who you with Martha?” She shrugged she shoulders and continued looking. The list didn’t seem to follow any particular order, neither first name nor surname, but it did include every student in the school regardless of year or house. As Martha continued to search for her name, John tried to find out whom Rose was partnered with under the guise of looking for Martha’s name. However, it was only a moment until Martha had found her name paired with a Gryffindor boy named Mickey whom they could neither make heads nor tales of. Neither of them remembered his sorting from the previous night, but they both decided that being in Gryffindor, at least he had mutual house relationship with Ravenclaw. 

“It would have been nice to have been Amy or Rory,” sighed Martha a little while later as she and John made their way down the corridor towards their first class, Transfiguration, “Yeah,” replied John glumly, “or Rose…” They didn’t have class with the Gryffindors until after lunch and Rose’s absence at breakfast sat in the back of his mind giving him a jittery feeling in the pit of his stomach. He reassured himself with the fact that he and Martha had gone down to breakfast slightly later than the average student and that Rose could have either slept in late or gone to breakfast early without him knowing. He didn’t dare voice these concerns to Martha for although she always meant well, she sometimes came across a bit harsh in reply to a sensitive question. He instead, fearing an awkward silence, struck up a conversion with her about the how heavy she thought the homework load would be regarding what her older siblings had told her. They lapsed into an amiable chat, and soon reached the Transfiguration classroom only to find most of the Hufflepuffs already seated, awaiting the arrival of Professor Smith. Structured much like a Muggle classroom, the Transfiguration room had several three seater desks facing a rustic chalk board along and a larger desk that John assumed must be Professor Smith’s. However similar the desks were to Muggle school, the room its self was not. With high sloping ceilings and twin staircases leading up to an upper level, the classroom was far more magnificent than in any other secondary school. Upon entering the large room, Martha and John spotted Rory who greeted them enthusiastically waving them over to join him at a desk near the front of the room. 

Soon a door at leading onto the upper balcony of the classroom opened and Professor Smith flowed into the room wearing robes of a soft lilac that seemed to float behind her as she walked. Bounding down the stairs, Professor Smith took a seat behind her desk looking sternly down at all of the students before opening her mouth to speak. “Welcome…” she paused pursing her lips, “to what may for some of you be the hardest class you will ever take here at Hogwarts. See this not as frightening but as intriguing as what you learn in this class will also be, in my humble opinion, the most useful and beautiful magic you will ever preform.” 

With this she raised her wand into the air pointing at a stack of papers that sat atop her desk. Slowly the papers began to float off the desk, sprouting wings and beaks until they were graceful doves soaring high above the students dipping and gliding. Craning their heads upwards, the students had just enough time to spot the doves shimmer and fold back into their paper forms floating down onto the floor. Rory dropped down to ground and gathered up a few of the papers handing one to Martha and John. Glancing down at the paper, John noticed that the white surface was making soft cooing noises and upon tentatively stroking the paper he found that the noises magnified a ten fold. 

“Now you see the beauty but can anybody tell me the functionality of this incomplete transfiguration?” questioned Professor Smith smiling widely. Over at the next desk, Clara Oswin-Oswald gently raised her hand. “Yes, Ms.Oswald?” “Umm…” Clara stuttered,“These are the same papers my dad said they use at the Ministry. When someone needs to send a note to someone else they write a message on one of these papers and then fold it into a paper aeroplane. They tell the aeroplane who the note is meant for and then it flies to the intended recipient.” Professor Smith smiled again, “Exactly right, five points to Ravenclaw!” Clara blushed and sunk down into her chair, smiling sheepishly. 

“Now, who wants to get started?” Everyone’s hands shot up immediately. They were all eager to start transfiguring papers into doves, but Professor Smith assured them that they would not be reaching that level of prowess until at least fourth year. “We will start by trying to turn a match into a cricket,” Professor Smith announced as she handed out five matches to every student, “Remember, focus is key in transfiguration, you need to visualize the object transforming into the animal!” Taking out their wands and furiously pointing them at their first match, Martha, Rory, and John tried their hardest to visualize the match taking on the shape of a cricket but to no avail. In fact by the end of the lesson the most exciting thing that had happened was Hufflepuff Gwen Cooper accidentally lighting one of her matches on fire.

After Professor Smith dismissed the class, the Ravenclaws headed to the fourth floor for their second class, Charms with the Slytherins. John was not eager to meet Koschei Rassilon, but he tampered down the nervous feeling in his stomach by telling himself that Koschei may not have read the list yet. He did not know anything about Koschei other than he was short, blond, and in Slytherin. Although John did not wish to judge Koschei by his house, he had felt that at the sorting he had a nasty aura about him. As he and Martha took their seats at the front of the class, Koschei did not bother them at all and simply chatted with his other Slytherin friend Adam Mitchell who John recognized from the sorting. 

Professor Jo Grant was a short woman who commanded the classroom like a drill sergeant rearranging the class so that each Ravenclaw was partnered with a Slytherin. John and Martha were spilt apart, Martha being placed with Phillip Anderson and John with Koschei’s friend Adam. She took role and then explained to them that they would be using the charm _Cistem Aperio_ to unlock small boxes. Each pair was given a box and told that ten points would be given to the student who managed to unlock it by the end of class. 

John found that he immediately disliked Adam for he was an annoying slip of a boy. Every time John began to mutter _Cistem,_ Adam would cut him off and start to repeat the incantation himself. After finding that furiously waving his wand around the box made no difference, Adam decided that it was John’s fault that it wasn’t unlocking. Over at her table, Martha wasn’t having much luck either. While Anderson actually aloud Martha to try and unlock the box, he chuckled unkindly each time she failed to unlock it. Martha felt like that was simply ridiculous because Anderson could not manage to make anymore progress than she could. 

Both John and Martha were happy when the lesson ended without anybody coming even close to unlocking their boxes and scurried out of the classroom before they had a chance to be cornered by Koschei or another one of his Slytherin cronies. John had a little spring in his step because lunch might give him a change to talk to Rose. However upon entering the Great Hall, John’s hope was quickly diminished as there was no sign of Rose at the Gryffindor table. Trying not to bother Martha with his bad mood, John stuffed his mouth full of chicken salad to avoid conversation. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic so I don't really know what I'm doing but hope you've enjoyed it so far anyways. Also comments are much appreciated to help me improve my writing. Thanks! -Lils


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